Home Sweet Home and the Holidays

The last few months of 2013 went by in a flash!  After coming home from Disney World we had a week to pack up our belongings and then we moved into our new home.  I am grateful that we were able to live in a rental home that my father-in-law owned, as opposed to living in an apartment but it still made for cramped quarters.  One of our biggest mistakes was not renting a storage unit, but instead piling 75% of our belongings that were kept boxed up, into the living room and foyer area of the home.  It was quite the mess really and somewhat funny now that I can look back on it.  Jamie had all of his clothes hanging on hanging racks lining the living room, surrounded by boxes of our stuff in every corner and crevice.  Our kitchen table was right in the middle of the room with stuff piled on and under it, since the kitchen was too small for a table.  Mind you this was ALL Jamie's idea!  The living room became a storage unit/Jamie's closet.  He had to move boxes around every time he'd go in there to get dressed.  And since our table was in there as well, we ate our meals in the den on the couch.  Jamie has since admitted that if/when we build again, we WILL rent a storage unit and make the 6-8 months of temporary living a little more comfortable.  However, it's behind us and we got into our home the last week of September.  Thank GOODNESS it's behind us!

 

This was the weekend we moved in however I don't have a new picture of the exterior.  

We do have sod and a fence in the backyard now.  Maybe in the near future I'll get some updated

 pictures of the house on here!

 I've always been told that building is a learning process and no matter what, you will always find something that you would like to do differently next time.  And while that is true and there are a few minor things I will do differently next time, I can honestly say that I love our new home! I'm so grateful that we were able to build a home that is almost perfect for our families' needs.  One of our main goals was to build a one story home for Noah, so that he could access all of it without assistance.  At our last home, it was a main level with a full basement, so the playroom was downstairs and to go out to the backyard to play, you had to go down a flight of stairs off of our deck.  It made things difficult for Noah and for me, trying to get 1 newly walking child and a toddler down stairs safely.  And if I ever had to run back up the stairs to grab something from in the house, Noah would get upset, thinking he had been left behind.  It just wasn't ideal for our situation.  Our setup now is a 1 story house with a bonus upstairs.  Our main level has 3 bedrooms on one side of the house, our master bedroom on the other side and the boys have a playroom off of the den.  Its a very open floor plan with the kitchen, den and dining all being open to one another and large windows that all look out into the back yard so I can keep an eye on the boys.  I also LOVE that I can open the back door in the kitchen/den and the boys can go in and out to play and if we're all outside playing I can run in and grab whatever I need quickly without upsetting Noah.  The boys both seem to love the new house, especially their backyard and playroom.  Noah seems to have more independence since we've moved here.  He isn't as clingy to me and doesn't have to be right by my side like he has in the past.  He is doing better about going off to play with Collier and entertaining himself for a little longer periods of time. It's taken some time to get everything in it's new place as well as finish up any last projects.  We still don't have shrub beds but that's partly due to all the rain we've had the past several months.  It seems like it's rained or been brutally cold at least 1x a week and things just haven't worked in our favor to finish up the landscaping.

A few weeks after we moved in, Collier turned 3 years old so we had a small family get together at home to celebrate.  Jamie's brothers both already had tickets for the Alabama game and his dad was at a Nascar race so it really turned out to be my family and Debbie, Jamie's mom, which was fine since I literally threw it together the week before.  He has really grown and changed in the last few months and has lost that baby/toddler look.  He is definitely a little boy now, which is a little bittersweet; I love our all the conversations and things he does but it's sad to no longer have a little baby.  His vocabulary has exploded and he talks non-stop.  He's really funny and loves to be the center of attention in front of those he's close with, however he's pretty bashful in front of people he doesn't know as well.  He has made friends at school this year and comes home talking about them; he loves race cars and construction equipment and can identify the difference between tractors, backhoes, bulldozers and more.  He loves to 'build a house' with blocks and move the dirt with all of his construction toys... someone was paying attention while we were building our house!  He is very into movies now that he and Noah have their own tv/dvd player in their playroom and I wake up regularly to him in the playroom watching a movie, without even letting me know he has woken. He has figured out how to turn on the tv and start the dvd player... he doesn't need my help at all although a few of our DVDs have been scratched up or broken from him handling them.  His favorites are Cars and Toy Story 1, 2, 3.  He still loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse the best but also likes a few other shows such as Henry Hugglemonster, Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Handy Manny.  He loves to quote his movies and his favorite quote is: "But you are a TOY!"- Woody/Toy Story and "Ka-CHOW!!!" - Lightening McQueen.  He knows his alphabet, most colors, counts to 15, knows most shapes (and can use his fingers to make the shapes, such as a diamond, triangle, square and "cirtle") and has learned his left from his right.  He's a happy, bright, FULL of energy, funny little boy and is just a joy to be with!  Now with that being said, he DOES have his challenging 3 year old moments and is very opinionated and stubborn.  Three has definitely proven to be the most difficult stage so far but his sweet little kisses, hugs and apologies wipe away any memory of a preceding fit that has been thrown!

  

My COOL 3 year old!



We had a fun Halloween despite the rainy weather and made the rounds visiting the family and were able to squeeze in a little trick or treating without getting too wet! The days of cute costumes are over and the boys are now into choosing their own costumes.  Collier was really into robots at the time so I found a super cute robot costume early in the month, but to my avail wasn't ever able to get him to put it on. On Halloween day, Noah was able to dress up for school, so he wore his batman t-shirt and cape. Of course, Collier then decided that he needed to be a superhero as well.  Halloween morning we set off for Target in hopes that we would be able to find a costume.  Luckily, we were able to find a Superman and a Batman costume in both boys' sizes and everyone was happy... and Jamie may or may not have been jealous of Collier's Batman mask. 

 At our church's Fall Festival

 Jamie and I got in on the superhero spirit

  

We enjoyed the month of November and stayed busy almost every weekend.  Jamie and I went to Tuscaloosa to the LSU game and had a great time! It was my first game to attend since the Championship game in New Orleans at the beginning of 2012 so I was more than excited to be there.  We met up with several friends as well as 2 of my cousins before the game and then cheered on the Tide as they beat LSU.  The following weekend we had several couples over, as well as their children to watch the Bama - Miss. St. game.  We had fun, but it was crazy with 8 kiddos among the 6 couples.  The guys watched the game on the back patio, while us girls tried to watch the game but mainly played with the kids and just enjoyed one another's company.  Then the next weekend the Clayton's came into to town from Nashville.  They brought their girls and the boys had a great time playing with them that afternoon.  Later that day, we met Chenequa's aunt and uncle in Rogersville so they could take the girls home with them and us adults were able to go out to dinner (we had a sitter keep the boys).  They spent the night with us and left the next day to get the girls and head back home.  It was fun catching up and spending time with one another, especially since it's been awhile since we had hung out last and they are about to add another little girl to their family! 

Since we hosted the Brink's Thanksgiving at our house this year, I made sure to get the Christmas decorations out prior to Thanksgiving.  It was fun getting to decorate our new house for Christmas, however, I didn't do nearly as much decorating as I'd like..... having just moved and put everything away, I wasn't quite as motivated pulling stuff back out!  I will definitely do better next year.  I was actually sick during Thanksgiving and felt nauseated and dizzy the whole week.  After 5 days of feeling this way and pretty much staying in the bed, I went to Express Med, convinced my thyroid meds were off.  They did blood work and sent it to my endocrinologist in Birmingham, who told me that my numbers were still good, and I must have had a bug.  Even though I never actually got sick, being nauseated and dizzy all day long for 5 days was anything but enjoyable.  Before we knew it, it was December and we went to Nashville for our annual Christmas shopping trip.  Normally we go with Jamie's family, however his mom got sick so it was only me, Jamie, Wes and Haley that went this time.  We still had a good time and got a lot of our Christmas shopping done.

Before we knew it, it was Noah and Collier's last week of school and we were having class Christmas parties.  Noah's was on Wednesday the 17th and me, Jamie and Collier joined his class for a pizza party and yummy treats.  Collier's was the next day and they just did a small party where they all brought candy for one another.  Thursday ended up being Noah's last day of school because Friday was a half day, however he woke up that morning and threw up so I kept him home.  We had plans to go to Birmingham to see my mom's family for the weekend so I kept an eye on him that day.  He didn't get sick and acted completely fine the rest of the day so we went on the Birmingham.  As we pulled off I-65,  out of the blue he threw up in the car.  Once we got to my aunt's house and got him cleaned up he was fine.  I was afraid he had a bug but he never got sick after that and he was acting like he felt fine all weekend.  On Saturday, my aunt, mom and I took the boys to the Galleria to meet Santa.  I'm not sure WHAT was going through my mind when I thought going to Riverchase Galleria to see Santa the weekend before Christmas was even a remotely good idea but the mall was NUTS.  Surprisingly the Santa line wasn't too bad and we got through it without any tears and I walked away with a $25 5x7 picture of Noah not smiling and Collier half smiling.  Memories, right?! The only thing Collier told Santa that he wanted was a tractor (he only has about 5 other tractors at home).  After our picture, Collier begged to ride the choo choo train that they had conveniently stationed right next to Santa's post (clever, huh?) So another $10 later and me and the boys were happily stuffed into one of the cars on the train, chugging through the massive crowds of people at the mall.  After that, I discovered my aunt and mom planned to do some shopping so the boys and I quickly exited the mall.  The boys rarely do good shopping when it's a non-holiday season much less during the busiest retail time of year!  Later that evening, we enjoyed a dinner with my family and then loaded up and went home the following morning to get ready for a visit from Santa Claus!

We had a great Christmas! We made our usual rounds beginning with our annual Christmas Eve breakfast at my grandmother's house.  Its always so much fun seeing my (very large) family and letting all of the kids play together. Later that evening, we had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner with Jamie's family and before we knew it, it was time for the boys to get in bed so Jolly 'Ol St. Nick could pay them a visit!